Zakumi’s Sister says ……..

Saturday 6 December 2008

Imagine spending the day driving around a luxury privately owned game farm in the Ladysmith area of KwaZulu-Natal, and then flying to Durban in a twin-engined plane just in time to watch your team playing in the spectacular stadium – Moses Mabhida. No worries if it rains – the roof will keep you dry!!!

Then fly to Bela Bela (previously named Warmbaths in English or Warmbad in Afrikaans) – now there’s a beautiful African name – and experience Africa at another up-market game lodge – and go on safari with game drives, health spa, swimming and relaxing under the African skies.

Take a look at all the areas that you can visit on this map and remember the out of the way special lodges that we are promoting are probably not listed here!

National Parks in South Africa are really mediocre and definitely not luxury.

http://www.places.co.za/html/gamelodges_home.html

We suggest that you take some time out to do a trip to South Africa now, check out where you want to go and where you don’t want to go!! This will make your trip to the World Cup much more relaxing and fun.

Remember – public transport for the masses in South Africa is a far cry from the public transport that fans will be used to. It might come as a bit of a shock to you – all too late – if you get here expecting to use public transport to get to the stadium!!

http://www.iss.co.za/static/templates/tmpl_html.php?node_id=2171&slink_id=4337&slink_type=12&link_id=24

24 April 2007: Security on Trains: Does Metrorail (South Africa) Take Its Responsibility Seriously?

There are some things in life that we seem to accept no matter how wrong they may be. One such example is the standard of safety provided for train commuters. It appears that we have assumed that using a train is generally risky and that commuters should find ways of dealing with this problem. Thus, when using a train regular commuters would give tips to others as to what routes to use to avoid crime.

The train commuting environment is conducive to crime. It is fair to say that until the commuter gets to the train station, he/she is completely unprotected. The stark contrast to this commuter vulnerability is that—if one takes Kempton Park station (Gauteng) as an example—one sees a lot of police visibility by both members of the South African Police Services (SAPS) and the Metro Police. But once one moves off the main road -- a necessity for a train commuter—one enters no man’s land.

While the route to the station is undoubtedly not policed, it is more disturbing that even after reaching the station and after boarding the train the situation does not improve much. ……

Evidently, SAPS takes commuter safety more seriously than does Metrorail. SAPS has re-introduced railway police, for example. These railway police, however, cannot adequately provide the necessary security on the trains.

Fear not, this is not a scare tactic, just information awareness input. Most commuters who own computers in South Africa drive their own cars ..…..

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.transport.gov.za/projects/msa/msareport/msarpt_fig30.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.transport.gov.za/projects/msa/msareport/msadraft82.html&usg=__S5NmNNHkhWMemn_ehlopAPUzZmc=&h=491&w=725&sz=6&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=4mGbtAl5msvrZM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpictures%2Bof%2Bpublic%2Btransport%2Bsouth%2Bafrica%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3RNFA_enZA274ZA281%26sa%3DX

Figure 26: Urban Passenger Segmentation

See website for customer segments
Strider - prefers to walk or cycle
Stranded - no affordable public transport available
Survivor - captive to cheapest form of pt option
Sensitive - captive to pt but selects "best" option
Selective - can afford car but willing to use pt
Stubborn - only uses car

The final segment is comprised of the Stubborn customers. This group will only use cars, and represents 3 million people, or 14% of the current urban population. This group is expected to grow by significantly between 1998 and 2020, which will create significant challenges for urban areas in terms of road infrastructure and congestion. Members of this segment opt out of the public transport system altogether by using their cars, and cost is a minor issue for these customers, compared to the much more salient concerns of convenience and speed. Their car dependence is enabled by the excellent urban road network in cities and adjacent suburbs where the stubborn residents tend to live.

So start planning your reconnaissance trip now!!! Experience Africa before the World Cup and see it as it really is before the millions of football fans converge upon our land and congest it!!! Fall in love ….. with Africa.